PENTECOSTAL LIFE UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF COMMERCE

To Mr. L.C.T Nkhwangwa
From HAPPY CHIRWA
Course Name HUMAN RESOURC MANAGEMENT Course Code
Level of Study YEAR3
Mode of Attendance EVENING Assignment # 2
Submission Date 30/09/2014 Due Date 29/09/2014
Student Signature
Question Examine five criteria for effective selection.

CRITERIA OF SELECTION
Human recruiting is another important aspect of the human resource management in the strategic fit aspects especially. The HRM function being a department on its own and being expected to come up with competitive strategies, the recruiting exercise is vitally important and determines or rather would determine the stand of the entire organization. The need for new recruits comes when a vacancy has been created and the recruiting is s no place is left vacant. The Human resource management is not only responsible for handling the human factor in the organization but also the responsibility to bring in the ones that are deemed worthy to fit the organizations’ cooperate goal.
The biggest mistake made in recruiting has directed a lot of organizations’ to their ruin. Pulakos D E (2005) clearly says that organizations’ have spent and invested a lot of their resources in trying to recruit the best candidates and this has become a war of who gets the best because by the end of it all the one with the best players gets the competitive advantage. This actually has made the human factor be seen as an important aspect of the organization and results have been visible.
Joshi M (2013) defines recruitment as the first stages in filling the vacancies in the organization. Meaning first a vacancy must be created before recruiting begins. He further says there are two things that cause a vacancy; the first being a creation of a new position due to increase in workload but of course the first thing the HR does is see if any one internally can be put to that position before advertising for it to external individuals. The second is the common one where there has been a resignation or termination of an employee.
“To obtain the right basic material in the form of a workforce endowed with the appropriate qualities, skills, knowledge and potential for future training. The selection and recruitment of workers best suited to meeting the needs of the organization ought to form a core activity upon which most other HRM policies geared towards development and motivation could be built “(KEEP, 1989). Armstrong (2006) defines recruiting; rather he puts it as resourcing and defines it as the strategy of obtaining and retaining the people an organization employs efficiently. KEEP and Armstrong both agree that recruiting and selection is an HRM strategy to obtain a competitive advantage over all other competitors of the organization.
Every strategy of HRM as mentioned above should be incorporated or should have a fit with the cooperate strategy of the organization. So how does recruiting and selection strategies get a fit with the business? Armstrong (2006) says the fit is based on the resulting human needs in terms of the following:
- Numbers required in relation to projected activity levels.
- Skills required on the basis of technological and product/market developments and strategies to enhance quality or reduce costs.
- The impact of organizational restructuring as a result of rationalization, decentralization, delayering, mergers, product or market development, or the introduction of new technology.
- Plans for changing the culture of the organization in such areas as ability to deliver, performance standards, quality, customer service, team working and flexibility which indicate the need for people with different attitudes, beliefs and personal characteristic.
2.0 HUMAN RESOURCE RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION
Selection is part of the resourcing strategy. Noe et al. (2006) defines selection as the process through which organizations make decisions about who will or will not be allowed to join the organization. The overall aim of recruitment and selection is to obtain at minimum cost the number and quality of employees required to satisfy the human resource of an organization (Armstrong 2006). There are three stages of recruiting and selecting candidates.
2.1 DEFINING REQUIREMENTS
This is basically preparing job descriptions and specifications; deciding terms and conditions of employment. Before every new person is brought in the organization lays down duties and responsibilities that are required of him/her and the opportunities that will be offered as well as the culture of the organization.
2.2 ATTRACTING CANDIDATES
This is where the applications are being analyzed for both internal and external candidates, adverts on the vacancy have been sent using agents and other sources.
2.3 SELECTING CANDIDATES
This is where now the identifying the right candidates is done, using interviews and more analysis of the candidate information given. In other words this where more detailed and extreme investigation if we may call it of the information on each candidate is looked at. Selection process has a lot of planning and stages that are carried out to get to the effective route of finding the right candidates, internal candidates not being neglected would need a lot of focus because in as much as they are and know the culture of the organization maybe even more than the external candidates, you make sure he is fit for the position.
3.0 SELECTION
The selection process in a nut shell refers to the steps taken in choosing the right candidates for a job. The decision to select a personnel are central to its ability to survive, adapt and grow. During tight labor markets, the company that manages to draw the best candidates gets the upper hand or a greater competitive advantage over the rest. The selection process differs from organization to organization, but there is are basic steps followed by a majority of organizations. The steps are shown below: Figure 1: steps in the selection process (Neo et al, 2006).
From the figure1 above shows the steps in the selection, basically the first step is looking at and examining the applications sent from candidates, this is done by the HR professional to see if basic requirements have been met. The second is a test carried out to see if the candidates can perform to expected results that the organization is looking for and this is done using simulated tests or the candidates bring the work samples to show what they can do. The third stage being the interview involves the team members being present in the selection process, a series of questions are asked to see how the candidate is capable of being recruited, this method is the most common and used. After the interview, the candidates’ background and references are checked if they are valid and not just made up, why? Anyone can make a very attractive profile of themselves but a follow up and a proper background check always brings out the information that is mostly supposed to be real. Then the legit candidate that meets the requirements and has the KSAOs is selected.
Getting the right methods to effectively select a candidate requires a certain criterion reached, these are:
3.1 RELIABILITY OF INFORMATION
This indicates how free from random error a method of selection is or should be. There are tests carried namely intelligence tests which are undertaken using statistical tools like the correlation coefficient. This type of statistic tool has numbers between 0 and 1 of which a score that is a 1 is a perfect score and a negative is a low score in intelligence. This means that if the same person takes the test three or more times, the result should be the same and that will determine the reliability of the method.
3.2 VALIDITY
Valid in the sense that the method measures the characteristic that the test is intended to measure. Meaning if the method is intended to measure ability, the results produced should be those in the scope of ability and nothing else i.e. any test carried should produce intended and convening results. Validity has five types:
- Predictive validity: This tests the extent to which a test can predict future behavior. In other words test should not just be about the now but further still how will the candidate behave.
- Concurrent validity: In this type, each individual score is compared from the highest score of one to the lowest score of another. This helps narrow down who best fits the performance they are looking for.
- Content validity: This is the extent to which the test is clearly related to characteristics of the job or a role for which it is being used as a measuring instrument.
- Face validity: In face validity, what is being said is that if the test portrays a certain outcome as a result, anyone looking at the test should be able to agree that that’s the intended use.
- Construct validity: This looks at if the test meant to measure a particular characteristics is doing just that.

3.3 ABILITY TO GENERALIZE
This means that the method should not only be used in the context it is intended but can also be used in other contexts.
3.4 PRACTICAL VALUE
Performance shouldn’t be the only prediction from a test but also what the organization will benefit from the methods being used. Apart from the first three criterion adding value to a method of selection, organizations will be interested in finding out how much it would cost to use any of the methods. Depending on the business an organization is in the method might be a good and worth investment or a cost that will force a dent on the financial stand. So in essence the method should cost far less.
3.5 LEGAL STANDARDS OF SELECTION
This looks at the one area that sees the law being the center of each method. This states that all people should have equal chances to participate in the whole selection process. The focus is the minority rights group not being discriminated. Example is women, the age criteria and people with disabilities having equal chances to try.
4.0 CONCLUSION
Each criteria has a certain focus and this shows that all criterion followed would most likely lead to an effective selection of the best candidates.

REFERENCES
- Armstrong, M (2006) Strategic Human Resource Management 3rd Edition, Kegan Page, London.
- Noe, A.R., Hollenbeck, J.R., Gerhart, B., Wright, P.M. (2006) Fundamentals of Human Resource Management, McGraw-Hill/Irwin, USA.
- Pulakos, D.E (2005) SELECTION ASSESSMENT METHODS: A guide to implementing formal assessments to build a high-quality workforce, SHRM Foundation, USA.